The rise of smart devices like the iPhone and iPad has led to an application goldrush, with companies racing to stake their claims. In the early days we saw a few lucky pioneers strike gold with novelty apps. There were also a handful of independent developers and well-known brands that invested in user experience and captured the high end of the market.
As the managing director of a design agency, it's my job to bring in the business. That means talking to prospective clients, writing proposals and running pitches...
A few evenings ago I watched a really interesting TED talk by Barry Schwartz on practical wisdom.
It’s surprisingly common for redesigns to cause outrage amongst their users. People complain that they weren’t consulted, criticise the quality and appropriateness of the new solution, and state that “if it ain’t broke, don’t fix it.” However if you leave the site for a while, you often see the most critical detractors become the most vocal supporters. Why is this?
This morning I'm going to be standing in front of a room full of SEO people to let them know how I feel about their industry. Here's a rough outline on what I'm planning to say...
Like most designers and developers we've come to the conclusion that big design up front doesn't work. Six month requirement gathering exercises which result in thousand page specifications don't work. In the time it has taken to produce these requirements the business landscape has almost certainly changed. So new requirements appear and designers and developers are forced to battle scope creep and keep these documents alive while at the same time trying to build something that is ever shifting and changing.